Milano

{Duomo di Milano}

   
     So with half of our Valentine's Day challenge done (my half that is), we decided to up and take a last minute trip to Milan for the weekend. The team had the weekend off allowing us a little more freedom to explore further than usual. And after throwing around a few places, Milan was the one that stuck. Not knowing much about Milan, except that is was more industrial and a bit lackluster in the charm category, we figured at the least we could eat some good ol' Italian food and drink some good ol' wine, which we definitely did. We packed up the car, grabbed our friend/teammate Trevor and made the 3 hour drive to Milano for a weekend of fun and exploration. And while Milan was not picturesque like a Paris or a Florence, the food, conversation and company more than made up for it. We learned a few Italian words like panna means whipped cream and pene means penis. (Imagine my anticipation every time Trevor ordered an espresso with whipped cream in hopes he would mix it up a bit, sadly for me, this was the only time he got the word right, every. single. time.) There were cappuccinos, artichokes and 'thoodles' galore. What is a 'thoodle' you ask? Well, it is what Shaun coined the thick noodle pasta we ate the first night. (Somewhere Brangelina and Bennifer are smiling.) Mind you, this term was coined after 3 or 4 rum and cokes and a few bottles of wine. Seemed totally reasonable at the time and I'm not gonna lie, still does. We found Obika, a mozzarella bar, where we spent about 4 hours tasting different kinds of mozzarella, meats and wines all the while having an intellectual conversation about the NCAA...again, seemed totally reasonable at the time and I obviously use the word 'intellectual' loosely. After all is said and done, we scratched Milan off the list and to be honest, I don't know if we would ever go back, but at the least, it has given me the inspiration to try my hand at some homemade mozzarella, more specifically stracciatella di burrata, the creamy center of fresh mozzarella. If you don't know what that is, get familiar, because it is life changing. And hell, if that proves too tough, there are always homemade THOODLES (in order to get the full effect of the word, you must pronounce it with a lisp).

{Gothic detailing}

{Italy's answer to France's velo bleu}

{Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II..Italy's oldest shopping mall located next to the Duomo}

{Tasting platter of 3 types of mozzarella; Paestum, Pontina and Affumicata}